cliff. and the two most important players involving the financial future of our nation. i'm harris falkner, we're told a meeting was held behind closed door and without the media's knowledge and both men tight-lipped about what was said and when we asked for comments, both giving us the same statement, quote, this afternoon the president and speaker boehner met at the white house to discuss efforts to resolve the fiscal cliff, we're not reading out details of the communication, but the lines of communication remain open, end quote. this meeting comes as the white house and congress appear to be at at impasse, you know by now is crippling spending and tax hikes and could cost us jobs and send us back into recession and to solve the problem, republicans say we must prevent our ballooning national debt from crushing generations. and chief white house correspondent now ed henry joins us by phone with the latest on this breaking story, ed, they kept this under wraps. how big after deal is this? >